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Publication date: January 2018Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 89 Author(s): Øyvind Ødegård, Roy E. Hansen, Hanumant Singh, Thijs J. MaarleveldMarine archaeological surveying in deep waters has so far been challenging, mainly due to operational and technological constraints. The standard tool has been Side Scan Sonar (SSS) towed behind a surface vessel. Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) technology is not subject to the traditional range/resolution trade-off, and produces results of considerably higher quality than traditional SSS. In 2015 and 2016 a comprehensive mapping of wrecks in Skagerrak, a large deepwater area off the south coast of Norway was undertaken, using an interferometric SAS system deployed on an autonomous underwater vehicle. By examining data from two passes of one of the many historical wrecks that were detected in the survey area, we demonstrate how SAS can be used to produce very high resolution imagery and bathymetry of wreck sites. Furthermore, post processing techniques are applied to exploit the high information content inherent in SAS data, enhancing aspects of the data for relevant archaeological analysis and interpretation. We show in this paper how SAS technology represents significant improvements in our abilities to conduct high quality and high resolution seabed mapping. The adoption of this technology will both benefit archaeological research and provide knowledge for better decision making in underwater cultural heritage management.

Publication date: January 2018Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 89 Author(s): Carolina Cucart-Mora, Sergi Lozano, Javier Fernández-López de PabloThe Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition was a process of cultural and biological replacement, considered a turning point in human evolutionary history. Various hypotheses have been used to explain the disappearance of Neanderthals from Eurasia. However, very few studies have explicitly examined the causative role of demography on Neanderthal and anatomically modern humans (AMH) interaction. Here we use an integrative method based on computational modelling and the analysis of archaeological data to construct an agent based model that explores the influence of demographic variables (birth and death rates) and mobility (home range size) on the bio-cultural interaction between AMH and Neanderthals during the transition from the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic on the Iberian Peninsula (50 ka to 30 ka BP). Our simulation results are consistent with the current radiocarbon framework for the disappearance of Neanderthals in this region. This suggest that the extinction of Neanderthals could be explained by inter-specific differences in demographic behaviour and mobility patterns compared with AMH.

Publication date: December 2017Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 88 Author(s): Marianne Mödlinger, Maikel H.G. Kuijpers, Dennis Braekmans, Daniel BergerThe colors of copper alloys are of particular interest in archaeology and can be characterized quantitatively and systematically. The CIELAB color system can determine different color parameters such as a*, b*, and L* by means of a spectrophotometer that describes the surface color. Additional information such as C* and h values can be calculated from these parameters which allows one to build a set of color-composition diagrams that connects chromaticity and alloy composition. With such data it is possible to estimate the color of prehistoric metal artifacts with similar chemical composition. A better understanding of the association between metallurgical composition and color will aid the research of prehistoric metalwork because choices in production and use of metal were likely influenced by this particular quality of metal.

Publication date: December 2017Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 88 Author(s): Rhy McMillan, Dominique Weis, Marghaleray Amini, Dominique BonjeanErosional processes often rework materials of different ages into the same sedimentary facies, producing time-averaged deposits. Such reworking is common at archaeological sites, and researchers must consider the resulting time-averaging effects when using natural stratigraphy to situate artifacts and remains in time. At Scladina Cave, a Neandertal site in Belgium, we developed a method for identifying reworked facies and the stratigraphic provenance of mammal bones based on their post-mortem trace element characteristics and crystallinity. We collected sixty-two faunal remains from throughout the site’s sedimentary sequence and analyzed them for trace element concentrations and crystallinity with laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and Raman spectroscopy. Our novel approach, the ‘Perio-spot’ technique, quantifies the trace element characteristics and crystallinity from the most diagenetically altered part of a bone with high spatial resolution. Trace element concentrations, rare earth element patterns, and crystallinity of ‘Perio-spots’ correlate throughout the Scladina sedimentary sequence. Based on stratigraphic trends in bone chemistry and crystallinity, we subdivide the Scladina sequence into two successive periods of early diagenesis, a period of later diagenesis, and a transitional period between the early and later diagenesis periods. The period boundaries also correspond to major climatic fluctuations identified in the site’s stratigraphy by other means (e.g., palynology and heavy mineralogy). The stratigraphic provenance of nine cave bear femora support the confinement of reworking to within each of the diagenetic periods; the provenance of two indeterminate faunal remains that visually resemble the taphonomic alteration of the Scladina Neandertal (taphonomic proxies) suggest that the individual may be significantly older than previously hypothesized. Evaluating the temporal integrity of exhumed assemblages and the original sedimentary context of bones with our method is thus a valuable addition to archaeological analyses, especially beyond the temporal range of radiocarbon dating or in contexts with very low preservation potential of organic materials.

Publication date: Available online 29 October 2017Source:Journal of Archaeological Science Author(s): Alice V.M. Samson, Lucy J. Wrapson, Caroline R. Cartwright, Diana Sahy, Rebecca J. Stacey, Jago CooperThis study represents the first positive identification of plant gum binding media in pre-Columbian art, and the first dates from indigenous cave art in the Caribbean. Mona Island reveals an extensive and well-preserved pre-Columbian and early colonial subterranean cultural landscape with dense concentrations of newly-discovered cave art in up to 30 caves. A multi-method approach to the research of pigments and binding media, charcoal, and cave sediments was used to elucidate the technologies, chronologies and processes of indigenous art and artists. Analyses included on-site use of a portable X-ray fluorescence (P-XRF) device to inform sample selection, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX) on paint and charcoal samples, polarized light microscopy (PLM) for material characterizations, and gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) for detailed chemical analysis of paint structures and composition. In addition direct dates of cave art using radiocarbon (C14) and Uranium-thorium (U-Th) dating methods are discussed. Results demonstrate multiple centuries of cave use during indigenous occupation and multiple phases and techniques of mark-making in dark zone locations within extensive cave systems. Visitors set out on pre-meditated journeys underground, making rock art using pigments from the cave floors, which they mixed into complex paints with the addition of plant gums from outside. This study is the first of its kind in the Caribbean providing insight into native paint recipes, material choices, and mark-making techniques. The methods have scope for widespread application and advance the integration of cave art research in archaeology.

Publication date: November 2017Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 87 Author(s): Philippe Dillmann, Roland Schwab, Sylvain Bauvais, Michael Brauns, Alexandre Disser, Stéphanie Leroy, Guntram Gassmann, Philippe FluzinOs isotopic ratios and trace element approaches were used to compare the signatures of ore and slag from different potential production sites located in eastern France and South-West Germany with the signature of artefacts from the end of the first Iron Age. A set of 31 artefacts was tested, consisting of bipyramidal semi-products, chariot tires, blooms and other commodities. The complementarity of the two approaches is demonstrated. Bipartite bipyramidal semi-products made by assembling two crude masses of distinct origins are evidenced suggesting the existence of intermediate producing centres assembling products from different origins. Only the provenance of blooms and wheel-tires could be established as local. Two spheres of metal circulation were evidenced: prestige and local. Bipyramidal semi-products and chariot tires belong to different long distance distribution networks.

Publication date: November 2017Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 87 Author(s): Rommy Cobden, Chris Clarkson, Gilbert J. Price, Bruno David, Jean-Michel Geneste, Jean-Jacques Delannoy, Bryce Barker, Lara Lamb, Robert G. GunnIdentifying extinct fauna in rock art is a common but difficult exercise. Here we use geometric morphometric analysis of shape to examine the oft-cited painting from Arnhem Land attributed by Gunn et al. to the long-extinct species Genyornis newtoni. We compare the shape of key anatomical features in this painting to anatomical depictions of Genyornis as well as to two other possible candidates – the emu and the magpie goose. Comparisons are also made to rock art depictions of these birds from northern Australia. We find that while the so-called ‘Genyornis’ painting does more closely resemble anatomical depictions of Genyornis than any other bird examined, all rock art images overlap in shape to such a degree that confident assignment of this image to any avian species is problematic.

Publication date: November 2017Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 87 Author(s): Marcel Weiss, Aleksander Otcherednoy, Andrzej WiśniewskiThe late Middle Paleolithic in central and eastern Europe is defined by the presence or absence of certain bifacial tools and blank production methods. Hence, the assemblages between MIS 5a and MIS 3 are classified as Mousterian, Taubachian, Micoquian, Micoquo-Prondnikien, Prądnik cycle and Keilmessergruppen, among others. We like to address here the questions of what do these assemblages look like when the type fossils (“fossil directeur”) are set aside and what are the main drivers of variability within and between these assemblages. Therefore, we analyzed nine assemblages of four late Middle Paleolithic open-air sites of the European Plain: Pouch and Königsaue for central Germany, Wrocław-Hallera Av. for southwestern Poland and Khotylevo I-6-2 for western Russia. Our study is based on an attribute analysis of flakes, as they are the most numerous artifact type in the lithic assemblages, bearing traces of the flaking technology in their morphology. Linear and nonlinear multivariate statistical analyses of the flake attributes show similar patterns for the assemblages and show no distinctions between Mousterian and Micoquian assemblages aside from the type fossils. Additionally, assemblage variability is, except for one case, not site specific or regional. The analysis of the factors that drive within and between assemblage variability revealed that the assemblages are influenced by site preservation, raw material size and economy, as well as similar blank production and tool manufacture methods that are present in varying degrees in each assemblage. In other words, taking into account site preservation, the overall character of these late Middle Paleolithic assemblages primarily reflects the flexible application of late Neanderthal flaking and tool production methods to the local raw material constraints. Once the type fossils are removed, these assemblages represent a range of variability that cannot be grouped readily into named archaeological entities that could represent distinct human groups.

Publication date: November 2017Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 87 Author(s): Alessio Palmisano, Andrew Bevan, Stephen ShennanRaw counts of archaeological sites, estimates of changing settlement size and summed radiocarbon probability distributions have all become popular ways to investigate long-term regional trends in human population. Nevertheless, these three archaeological proxies have rarely been compared. This paper therefore explores the strengths and weaknesses of different kinds of archaeological evidence for population patterns, as well as how they address related issues such as taphonomic loss, chronological uncertainty and uneven sampling. Our overall substantive goal is to reconstruct demographic fluctuations in central Italy from the Late Mesolithic to the fall of the Roman Empire (7500 BC-AD 500), and with this in mind, we bring to bear an unusually detailed and extensive dataset of published central Italian archaeological surveys, consisting of some 10,971 occupation phases at 7383 different sites. The comparative results demonstrate reassuring consistency in the suggested demographic patterns, and where such patterns diverge across different proxies (e.g. Late Bronze Age/Iron Age) they often do so in useful ways that suggest changes in population structure such as site nucleation or dispersal.

Publication date: November 2017Source:Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 87 Author(s): Saul L. Hedquist, Alyson M. Thibodeau, John R. Welch, David J. KillickTurquoise has been used in the American Southwest since “time immemorial,” and remains an important material for contemporary indigenous groups of the region. Detailed studies of ancient turquoise mines are few, however, and inferences of turquoise procurement and provenance have been limited. Our intensive investigation of one mine, the Canyon Creek locale in Arizona, integrates archaeology and geochemistry to enhance understanding of the mine and its output. A detailed description of the mine’s morphology and geologic setting lays foundations for interpreting an isotopic analysis of specimens from the mine’s four localities. The analysis reveals extremely radiogenic Pb isotope ratios, which distinguish Canyon Creek turquoise from that of other known sources in the American Southwest. Its distinctive isotopic signature makes Canyon Creek turquoise readily identifiable in archaeological assemblages. The presence of turquoise from Canyon Creek at late prehispanic settlements in east-central Arizona helps clarify the mine’s chronology of use and regional distribution. Our observations suggest the mine was larger than previously supposed, and that it provided an important source of turquoise for inhabitants of the region during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries AD.